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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1912)
6 THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND, JULY 28, 1912. Congressional Thermometer Will Again Go Aeroplanin ' l lll ll ili ' if I J '1 in Face of Gwt ' J f f f J J " h i itijl fell; -l- eotI'IIl U PIlfflil, 7d TO H ove 11 O Hlif who clta In future hand over Congresses that adjourn not hot weather approaches. Is to he granted the privilege of living in the midst of a refrigerated atmosphere that oozes from the sides of the cham ber, from beneath his seat, from the perforated legs of the very chair in which be sits. For Congress is to be refrigerated. It has appropriated the money for the purpose. Elliott Woods, the superintendent of the Capitol, has found out all about re frigerating large halls, such as those In which the Senate and House of Rep resentatives meet. He has put it all down In a book and this week he has asked all the world to step up and bid upon the task of furnishing the requi site amount of air at the desired tem perature. Summer or "Winter. To the most likely bidder will be given the task and Congress shall forthwith be thrust Into an ideal temperature, re gardless of conditions out of doors. When the thermometer registers 100 on the streets of Washington, the halls of Congress are to be maintained at an even temperature of 75. When the folks back home are sweltering in the sultry air that blows off of the grow ing cornfields, their representatives in Congress will be sniffing the air that cools and buttoning their alpacas about those protuberances that have devel oped since they took to statesmanship. When other folks everywhere are hur rying to the seashore, these members of Congress will be merely delaying the passage of appropriation bills that they may remain yet a while In that blissful atmosphere which their benev. olent Uncle Samuel, with their own as sistance, haa provided for them. The Cold Air Problem. TTnele Sam has found cut how to manufacture cold air and keep it where It is most needed. Of course it costs money to do It but In Congress is no place to give an example of economy. Last year Congress appropriated $70, 600 to Install a plant for the purpose of refrigerating the two halls. This Is stated as an Insufficient amount and Congress stands ready to make up the deficiency. Just, what that deficiency will be will not be known until an -J wars are received to the advertise ment for bids. This business of refrigerating any of the buildings such as man has come to live In, has proven a most baffling proposition. It is many times easier to raise the temperature inside a build ing seventy degrees than It Is to lower It ten degrees. While the problem of keeping a bouse warm in the Winter was long ago worked out, that of keep ing the same house cool In Summer, is still a puzzler. The reasons for these conditions are Interesting. In the Winter houses are kept tightly closed. Under these con ditions If the inside air is heated It remains confined and requires only such additional quantities as may be needed for ventilation to maintain an even temperature. It is likewise true that warmed air, being lighter than that which is colder, rises and per meates the house. The top of a house o'r a room is, to a considerable extend airtight and the warm air Is kept In. Just the opposite conditions exist in Summer and the opposite rules apply to cold air. In the Summer, houses and public buildings are quite generally left open. Were the air within them cooled it would be almost Immediately blown out the windows. An entirely new generation of janitors grown away from the Influence of the janitors of today, would be necessary before any other arrangement could be put Into operation. Aside from this, houses are not prop erly built for refrigeration. As a scientific fact cold air is heavier than warm air. When it Is introduced Into room it Immediately sinks to the floor. Everybody has noticed that. In the Winter time, when a window Is opened, the feet first feel the effect of the Incoming air. This Is because the cold air settles to the floor be cause of Its greater weight. So It develops that pouring cold air into a room Is exactly like pouring water into a bucket If there are holes I warm air. He immediately demon in the bucket the water runs out. strated the fact that the cold air would Likewise If there are openings at the bottom of the room the cold air runs out. Practically all rooms are built with openings at the bottom. The doors are at the bottom and the win dows are near it. The cold air runs out of these as it would out of a leaky bucket. The room is no sooner filled with cool air than it is emptied again. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the in ventor of the telephone, last Summer worked out the principles that underlie the problem of refrigerating living rooms. He had just completed a year long trip around the world and much of his time had been spent in tropical countries. He noted that practically no efficient endeavor was anywhere made to keep the houses in which the people lived cooL Returning to Wash ington in mid-Summer the problem of keeping cool in his own home faced him. He Investigated the problem of cool ing living apartments, and found that practically the only step made toward accomplishing the given result had been taken by Dr. Willis Moore, chief of the Government Weather Bureau. Dr. Moore had Invented an "ice stove." This apparatus consisted of an Ice box placed In the celling, through which a fan drew cold air and poured it Into the room In question. The cooling effect of this ice stove seemed, however, to be immaterial. Dr. Bell sought for th reasons. As a scientist ha knew of the greater weight of cold air as compared with run out of the ordinary room. He saw that the solution was to get a bucket with no holes in It. In this connec tion he remembered that In the base ment of his house was an unused natatorium. Why not. he asked him self, pour cold air instead of water into this natatorium and use It as a living apartment? Ho arranged his ice stove in such a way that the cold air it fur nished would be' poured into this old natatorium. In it he reduced the tem peraure 25 degrees. He found that by regulating his ice stove he might main tain an ideal temperature regardless of weather conditions outside. With a room that will hold water the princi ple may be applied anywhere. The Old System at Capitol. Congress has been strenuously en deavoring to keep Itself cool in the past Summers, but It has failed to work out the scientific problems that surround the task of refrigerating it self. Likewise haa the tendency toward holdover sessions seemed to In crease of late and th need of a method of keeping cool grown accordingly.. The old methods were, however, not so bad In their way. Under the Capitol buildings, two or three stories down, there Is an incon ceivable network of tunnels and an array of catacombs such as might well make ancient Rome look to Its hon ors. One of these systems of passage ways serves the purpose of furnish ing fresh air to the two chambers of Congress and to the innumerable committee rooms in the giant building. This system has as its supply source two 12-feot tunnels which run 600 yards out into the Capitol grounds and there come to the surface and draw underground the pure, fresh air of the park. Underneath the building are lo cated huge fans whose business it is to pull " this fresh air through these tunnels from the outside. Winter and Summer these fans are busily at work and the result of their labors is such a current of fresh air as would be furnished by a 50-mlle-an-hour gale blowing through these passageways. This fresh air Is so distributed that it creates a constant current through all the rooms of the Capitol. He who casually drops into the Sen ate chamber or the House of Repre sentatives, little appreciates the re markable system of ventilation that is constantly at work. Underneath the floors of those chambers is a second false floor four feet down. This floor is of glased tile and Immaculately clean. The space between the two floors forms a fresh air chamber. A strong current of fresh air is con stantly being forced into this chamber. From it there are Innumerable open ings Into the legislative halls above. There are gratings around the edge of the halls. Each tier of seats is a few inches higher than that in front and the jog that furnishes this raise boasts Other gratings. The very legs of the seats occupied by members of Con gress are hollow and perforated and the pure air of the outside. Through constantly breathe Into the chambers all these inlets is constanly being forced gentle currents of this good air. There is not a floor surface four feet square In these chambers that does not have its air Inlets. Bad Air Outlets. This elaborate inlet system is dupli cated by an outlet system at the roof. These legislative chambers have very ornate ceilings composed largely of inlays of stained or painted glass. To the observer from below this ceiling seems to' have no vent. As a matter of fact there are, ct regular Intervals, apertures made by setting one piece of glass three Inches above another. thus providing a side wise exit for the air. Above this obvious celling is a great apartment with a network of braces and yet above this a second glass roof. It is into this chamber be tween two- glass roofs that the bad air of the regions below rises. From this chamber this bad air Is drawn off by other great fans and shot into the open above the Capitol building. So is a constant flow of fresh air main tained through these great chambers. This system of intake and outlet air system has long been admirable and could hardly be improved upon as far as it goes. Into these air passages are Introduced different networks of pipes for heating purposes which serve no purpose in the Summer but work busi ly in the Winter time. When it Is de sired to raise the temperature of the Incoming air five degrees, a given coil Is put on. An additional result may be accomplished by turning the heat into an additional eolL There are spe cial coils for every room in the Capitol and wherever the temperature Is too low additional heat may be applied. In the office of the chief engineer In the basement Is Installed that re markable system of electric thermom eters which makes it possible to read the temperature in any room in the Capitol from this point of vantage. It is but necessary to make connection with a given thermometer, as a tele phone connection might be made, to determine what is the temperature at the point at which it Is located. It a member of Congress complains that It Is Inordinately hot on the floor of the chamber, the chief engineer has but to connect with a thermometer near him to determine whether his heat is due to the condition of the atmosphere or anger that may be welling up within him. By putting on or off a switch that is at his elbow, the chief engineer may switch on or off certain heating colls that will affect the atmosphere which surrounds the complaining Con gressman. Work of Making It Cold. This method of overcoming undue cold was long ago mastered. The task of overcoming undue heat Is but just now being solved. At present certain precautions against superfluous heat are being taken but the new system Is to be the ultimate solution. Great streams of the fresh air of the parks are being crowded through the cham bers of Congress. But little Is being done to reduce the temperature of this outside air and it is, at times, not over cooL It Is, however, being washed of its dust and cooled somewhat dur ing Its passage through the tunnels that bring it into the building. To ac complish this sprays are being ar ranged for great lengths of the tun nels. As the air is blown through these passageways these sprays are turned on. The first end accomplished Is to wash the air clean of all dust or other particles. The second Is to reduce its temperature. Swift winds blowing through moisture causes much evapo ration and evaporation is a cooling J process. It Is In this way possible to cool the Incoming air some five de grees. Withal It is a pretty good grade of air that is at present oozing out of the chair legs of the members of Con gress. But the temperature is not re duced the 25 dogrees that would con vert the chambers of Congress Into condition where life Is found to be ideally livable. Therefore the appro priation for the new system. -The new system of refrigeration In the first place takes into eonstderatlon the closing up of the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representa tives with the exception of the open ings at the top and bottom. Then, when the cold air is forced In it will not spill out at the doors and windows but will rise as mlsht water In a tube. The occasional opening of a door will not allow a reat quantity of cold air to escape. The warm air will rise to the top and will be fanned out at the cell ing. 75 Degrees In Summer. But back of this accomplishment lies the production of cold air. The recent appropriations have been for a plant. This plant is to reduce the temperature to produce this atmosphere - of a re duced temperature. The basis of the plan is a refrigeration plant such as are maintained in cold storage houses. of great quantities of brine to a point far below that of freezing water, say to about zero. When the brine Is this cold it is to be circulated through coils of Dine that are introduced into the air passages in just the same way that the heating pipes are introduced. There will be coil after coll and one after another may be put on until the tem perature of the air is reduced to any desired degree of coldness. Across these coils of cold brine will be run currents of water, so regulated as not to remain in contact with the pipes long enough to be frozen but to attain a greatly reduced temperature. This cold water wilV be sprayed Into the cooling air and will aid in Its re frigeration. Likewise will it serve the purpose of washing it. So will the cur rents of air go on to the balls that are to be cooled and so will an Ideal at mosphere be Induced for tbe Congress es of the future that labor in the torrid heat of July and August. So may the members of Congress luxuriate In tem peratures that are Tegularly main tained at 76 while outside the ther mometer is playing In that range which, in Washington, varies from .90 degrees to 105. In this work the scientific ventila tors and refrigerators have made an additional discovery. They have found that there are, upon occasion, peculiar atmospheric conditions that make the scheme of putting in the new air at the bottom and taking It out at the top of a room not advisable. When the humidity is very great it has been found that the bad air Rinks to the floor. Under these conditions, when many people are confined in a room, the air which they breathe becomes very objectionable. Almost everybody has been in some place, as a crowded courtroom, when It was damp and hu mid and has been well nigh overcome by the foulness of the air and the op pressive human odor that hangs in it. This is because the atmospheric condi tions are such that the bad air does not rise as it does under normal con ditions. The members of Congress who pa triotically work In the Summer time are to be protected from this condi tion. The system that Is to be In stalled Is to be reversible. When the damp days come and the bad air hov ers about the floor the fresh air is to be put Into the legislative chambers from the top and taken out at the bot tom. So are the legislators to be main tained In comfort despite varying and unfavorable conditions. So are their heads to be kept clear that the laws which they make may be for the bene fit of the 90,000,000. The advertise ments for bids are now out and the system is to be Installed as soon as sufficient time ha elapsed to complete the detail of such an adjustment to better conditions. (Copyright by w. A. DuPuy.) "RUDE' WOUAR DS rOEN J. STGRAW is entitled to all the credit possible for my success as a pitcher," Is the way Richard de Marquis, better known as "Rube" Marquard, the great southpaw pitcher of the New Tork Giants, ex pressed himself when I found blm near the clubhouse at the Polo Grounds "Manager McGraw had more confidence in me than I had In myself, and he kept plugging at me even when I was getting worse Instead of better. "Wilbert Robinson, the head coach of the New Tork's pitching depart ment. Is another who worked hard to make me what I am. He showed me little tricks in the art of twirling with out which I would not be what I am today. "Robbie" was at me morning, noon and night. It was he who in stalled the confidence In me that en ables me to face the hardest bitters in the league always with the Idea that I have got an ice In the hole.' "Control is what I lacked when I first coma to the Giants, and the morn ing after each game I worked In I hated to look at the papers, knowing I would see a headline something Ilk this: HcGraw's fll.OOD lemon gets his bumps again.' I never pitched a game but I was sure of encouragement from McGraw and Robinson. They were al ways there with a good word of advice, no matter how bad my work was, and that I have been, able to prove that they knew what was what will always be a source of great satisfaction to me. "I doubt very much 1 I could, have made the record this year that I have If it were not for the great work of the team behind me. The 1912 Giants are, to me, the greatest set of ballplayers ever assembled In one team. There la not a man on the team who Is not a star, and when you have a team like that behind you why shouldn't you feel that whatever situation arises will be handled In the proper manner? "It Is poor playing behind a pitcher that helps to . take his nerve away more than anything else. I speak from my own knowledge. When infield files begin to count for base hits, bunts are handled badly and the catcher perhaps allows an easy foul to get away from him, then la the time a pitcher gener ally begins to get that 'going up' feel ing. No matter how good a pitcher may be, he has got to have gilt-edged sup port In order to win. e "I don't suppose any man in the big leagues today had a harder time mak ing good than I did. When I came from Indianapolis ' in 1908 with what was then the record price of $11,000 at tached to me the fans seemed to expect more of me than any one else. If I lost I got as artistic a roasting as one could desire, and when I did manage to land a game the best I'd get was: 'Well. It's about time that misfit put one over. I wouldn't wish my early experience In the major league on my worst enemy, and If It hadn't been for McGraw, Robinson and the players on till team I doubt II I would hare had How tbe "Rube" Holds the Ball When He, Throws a "Turkey Trot. the nerve to stand cp under the abuse I received. "But that's all passed now. The men who roasted me the worst ore now the ones who Insist on printing my pic ture every day or so. Still the "knocks' these writers gave me only had the ef fect of making me more determined to succeed. I remember one morning when I reported for practice a New Tork pa per had handed me a very pretty pan ning for losing the day before. "McGraw saw me coming, and I guess he knew, from the expression of my face, that I had seen the paper. He walked toward me, put his hand on my shoulder and said: 'Rube, you did great work - yesterday, and if you had had 25 per cent of the luck that was against you there would have been nothing to It.' "In tbe early days the only place I felt at home was with my fellow play ers. "I always had lots of 'tuff, but I wasn't sure of my control. When I got a signal for a 'fast one I was afraid to put all I had into it, because I didn't know with any certainty that it would go near the plate. I got my confidence from "Robbie,' who would stand behind me and say, 'Aim for the plate and let her go.' I'd do It, and I soon found that I could put it over just as easily with a fast one as I could with a slow. "This year's success, in my judgment, is due to a great extent, to a new ball I discovered and developed. I call it the turkey trot Not long ago some one named it the 'buzzard wing dip.' How I learned It was by fooling around trying to throw that one of Mathew son's, which some people call the 'quiver.' Matty perfected it at Marlin one Spring. ' "Using the same hold on the ball that I do when I throw a 'fast one,' only allowing it to slip through the first and second fingers, I found that as I turned it loose it took a most peculiar break. The one thing I needed was a slow ball, so I kept pegging away at It until now I can do anything I want with lt "The one best thing about my new ball, outside of being a strength saver. is that I use the same motion to de liver It as I do my fast one. Thus the batter la unable to tell from my posi tion or motion just what is coming. "Heinle Zimmerman, of the Chicago team, is the hardest man tor me to puzzle. He doesn't seem to hit any particular ball. I'll try him on a slow one, just over the corner, and he'll miss It; and when I come right back with the same ball he pushes It out for a two or three-bagger. Next time up I give blm a fast one close to his body, and again the game is delayed while the fielders chase the ball. "Judging from the record he's making I'm not the only pitcher that dislikes to see him coma to bat. Tinker, of the same team, is another who causes trou ble to a pitcher. He is a natural hit ter and is liable to put almost any kind of a ball out for a hit "The one ball that is said to keep old Honus Wagner en the jump is a "spltter. I don't handle It, and as the greatest of all spit-ball artists is on the same team with the Dutchman he isn't handicapped very, heavily, "While these players make me work harder than most others I could men tion, there are pitchers who don't have much trouble with them. Of course, they are dangerous at all times, but what I mean Is that Mathewson. for in stance, would rather have Tinker at bat than Roger Bresnahan, of the St. Louis team. Archer, of the Chicago Cubs, is an Al hitter, but I'd much rather have him facing me In a pinch than lots of others. "This proposition works both ways Archer, on the other hand, may like me to be doing the pitching in preference to someone else. We all have our little peculiarities. It is sel dom that two pitchers have the same opinion regarding the same batter, and vice versa. "When it comes to making me extend myself to the limit, the Pittsburg bunch, with Marty O'Toole In the box. Is the prize package. He is the tough est pitcher I have to stack up against. Not only Is he a puzzle to the New York batters, but he takes undue lib erties with my offerings. In that 11- Inning game at the Polo Grounds he touched me up for three hits, and If I remember rightly one of them was for three bases, another for two and the third for one. "Baseball luck played a great part in that zame. as a review of the hit col umn will show. Pittsburg got 11 safe hits off me. while we secured only eight off O'Toole. Marty now wears the crown of the highest-priced pitcner, and It won't surprise me If some day and is now going through the school (Concluded sa Pas 7.)